halter breakin( i forgot)

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pigguy

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Jul 4, 2007
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662
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kansas
ok well the calves i am buying are not weaned yet so i was wondering. if as soon as i brought them home i put a halter on them and let them drag it around while they got used to the place or should i let them settle in for a week then let them drag the halter around? can i fed them alflfa until i can go to the feed lot and buy some grass? thanks a bunch i cant wait to go pick them up ;D ;D
 

red

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Jan 20, 2007
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LaRue, Ohio
I never liked to have them drag the halter. It just made for a messy halter & some sores on the nose. I've got a pretty good article on the front page on halter breaking. I usually tie them for a  little bit at a time. Brush & pet a lot.
http://www.steerplanet.com/content/view/26/52/
Good luck! always a fun time!

Red
 

pigguy

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Jul 4, 2007
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662
Location
kansas
when i do it your way do i still ahve to wait till they get used to the place(isnt much just a pen with a water and a lean-to)
 

DL

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Jan 29, 2007
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Give 'em a couple of days to settle in - just go out feed 'em and talk to them - remember they have been through a pretty stressful time - weaning, trailered, home to a new place --- let 'em chill...
 

afhm

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The sooner you start after weaning the better, they associate you as a step mom.  We like to tie them in the trailer onthe ride home and when we would get home (about 3 1/2 hours) most of the time we could lead them off the trailer.  Other than that we would tie them in a squeeze chute or in the chute leading to the squeeze chute with a bar behind them where they didn't have much room to move so they wouldn't pull back too hard/much.
 

Rocky Hill Simmental

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Aug 22, 2007
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Missouri
For the young calves: Put the rope halter on and pull them. I've broke 3 and 4 month old calves in about 30 minutes that way.

For the bigger ones: I always let them in the new holding pen for a few days before I put a halter on them. Then we catch them and slide the rope halter on and let them drag it around for about a week then catch them again and pull. Then just pull until they start to follow. Leave the rope halters on until your sure their halter broke. Then after we take the rope halter off we always put a horse style halter on them to help catch them easier.

If you put duct tape around the nose piece and it won't cut their nose.

That's what we always do but different things work for different cattle and people.  ;)
 

afhm

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May 1, 2007
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We did.  Lately when I bring in calves there are too many in the trailer to tie them.  We would tie them low so they could fall down and get back up.  Its not much different than tieing them up in the barn for the 1st time.  They have less room  to move around and like I said most of the time we could lead them off the trailer when we got home.
 
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